Georgetown, Exuma

We made it! Georgetown, Exuma.
We were hoping to make it here in time for the Family Island Regatta and we did!
The stop here was quite a milestone in our trip. We've talked about it for so long.

Besides the regatta we also had made plans to meet up with the adventure photographer Jen Edney. She was commissioned by Coastal Living Magazine to come and photograph us to capture "life on the hook" with a young family. Jen was wonderful with the kids and we had fun while she was with us. She was a great sport dealing with our limited space for 5 days! Kudos to you Jen!

It was nice to be here in Georgetown for an extended period of time as we were able to meet some amazing long and short term cruising families. The beaches and snorkling were superb and the temps were in the mid 70's to low 80's. Wonderful.

We were able to take part in beach baby showers, birthday parties, hiking outings, volleyball games, sting ray feeding, snorkling, scuba diving, spear fishing and pot luck dinners. Georgetown is a very social place! If you have a pulse and a smile you are welcome!


Friends Bruce, Sjerge, and JP.

Beach games

We were always told there would be kids in Georgetown. They weren't kidding!

This group of cruising kids are from all over the globe.

Race Medals

Hang On!

Steve "hiking out on the pry" to help balance the boat. These are 20-23 ft sailboats with 41 ft masts and 3000 lbs of lead keel to balance!

And they are off!

Here they go raising sails!

Starting line up. The boats actually drop their anchors on the start line and when the starting gun goes off, they haul up 50 ft of anchor rode while raising sails!

Steve crewing on a "B" class boat called "Six Sisters" on Day 1 of the races.

The girls and I in our "chase boat"! Thanks to our friend and driver Kevin from s/v Fur Ellise.

(Steve's in the blue shirt in the background)

Pictures from the Regatta on race days...

Old and new friends from Maine. Bruce and Art. Both have been coming to Georgetown for the regatta for years. We of course met them on separate occasions but they already knew each other!

Hairdo's! More lovely Bahamian hairdo's!

Crowd gathering for the Family Island Regatta parade

Rake n' Scrape Music at Eddy's Edgewater, Georgetown

Get your dancing shoes on!

Trail floor on hike on Stocking Island

View from the top of Stocking Island

Jen Edney

Adventure Photographer Jen Edney with the girls after spending a fun week on board Hook taking pics for Coastal Living Magazine.

Georgetown public library

Steve to the rescue again! Run-away dinghy...

Another one of Maddie's "special spots" she created.

Sleeping in the cockpit

Emma under Queens Dock on Hamburger Beach, Stocking Island

Conch horn blowing practice for sunset ritual

Emailing downtown at J&K Productions. $5/day for internet and $0.15/min for phone calls. Not bad since it is $4/min with our cell phone from here! Yikes!

Volleyball Beach, Stocking Island

Girls leaving their "mark" at the Chat & Chill on Volleyball Beach, Georgetown.

Regatta Park waterfront in Georgetown. Vendors working hard at constructing their food/beverage shacks for the Family Island Regatta week.

Georgetown, Bahamas

Exuma

Exuma Sight Seeing

The wind continues to blow keeping the cruising boats pinned down. A fellow cruiser who we met on the ICW, and who we run in to from time to time explained it best. He said that cruising sailboats move like inchworms. You go like crazy and then you bunch up. You go like crazy and then you bunch up. You go like..... Get the picture? Currently we are bunched up in a marina north of Georgetown, Exuma. The marina has been nice, hot showers, free laundry, fast internet connection, lounge, huge flat screen with movies...... but you can only do so much of that. So we rented a car and toured Great Exuma by land. There are several settlements on Great Exuma, Georgetown, Rolleville, Barraterre, Williamstown, to name a few. We figured if we couldn't go by sea then by land.


Proof we are in the Bahamas.


Jail house ruins in Rolleville, Exuma.



In 1829 a 32 year old slave of a British land owner, Lord Rolle, initiated a rebellion that began the Bahamian anti slavery movement. 77 slaves seized a salt boat and sailed to Nassau to appeal to Governor Carmichael Smith. Although Smith was against slavery the slaves were apprehended and returned to Rolleville. The slave that started the rebellion was made an example of by recieving 39 lashes.



Monument at the Rolleville Jailhouse.

One of three gas pumps on Great Exuma. I had to go door to door until I found the attendent who lived three houses away from the pump. No video cameras here!

The three pictures above are of a site of the first "aid to navigation" on Great Exuma. This pillar was installed to help guide ships in to the harbor where salt was mined from the salt flats.

Emma was challanged by a boy in a race. Emma came in 2nd!

The day after Easter is a Bahamian holiday when they celebrate the abolishment of slavery. Most villages celebrate with food, spirits, games for the kids, sailing, and loud music. This guy made me a coconut drink and showed me how to eat the insides of a coconut the "Bahamian way".

He also got me for two bucks saying he could climb this tree in less than one minute.

Temporary shack set up for the food. We had the snapper and rice.

Ruins of an old house in Williamstown, Exuma.

Beach whithin a five minute walk from Emerald Bay Marina. Also the same site as the Sandles Resort. The rates at the resort run $650 per day per couple. This doesn't include sleeping accomodations. Wow.

April 5, 2010